Malaysia's Sharp Drop in Exports
Limited Trade Surplus in March

By

Monica Houston-Waesch Dow Jones Newswires

Updated May 3, 2001 12:01 a.m. ET

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- Malaysia's March trade surplus of 4.2 billion ringgit ($1.11 billion) was smaller than most analysts had expected, mostly because of a sharper-than-predicted decline in exports.

The national statistics agency released March trade data showing that exports slumped 6.9% from the year-earlier period to 29.8 billion ringgit, far more than the expected drop of up to 4%.